Flashback Friday

It took me all day to figure out what I wanted my Flashback to be about. But now I know. My sophomore year in college I was privileged to play Sally Bowles in Cabaret at KSU. It was my first leading role in college and besides Aldonza in Man of La Mancha it was the most exciting character I have ever played. The rehearsal process took place during the spring semester and my mom and I decided to spend spring break in NYC. We couldn't get tickets to Cabaret because it had just opened and it was sold out for months. So, we filled our time seeing just about everything else we could. And then, it snowed. A lot. It was the morning of March 22, 1998 and my mom and I woke up in our hotel room to see the city in a blanket of snow. Of course that wasn't about to slow us down. So we got up, had some breakfast and prepared ourselves to stand in line at the TKTS booth in Times Square. My mom had a brilliant idea to have me stand in line at TKTS and she would head to the Roundabout Theatre's box office and see if there were any cancellations. Now, this was before we had cell phones, so she left me there in line to check on Cabaret. As I neared the front of the line I figured I would just let people go ahead of me until my mom came back. See, we were both convinced that we had no chance of getting Cabaret tickets. And then I heard it. From far in the distance around 45th street I hear my mother shouting my name. JOOOOODIIIIIIII, WEEEEE GOOOOT THEEEEEM!!!!!!!!!!! And then I saw her. She was running toward me. Now imagine her running down the street waving the tickets in the air with snow all around, piled on the side of the street. And shortly after I heard her I ran toward her. She was so excited and so was I. We got to see the original cast, with Alan Cumming and Natascha Richardson, that would eventually win four Tony awards and then run for more than 2300 performances. It would later play at the infamous Studio 54. There I saw it a second time with Neil Patrick Harris and Deborah Gibson. And tonight I was back at Studio 54 again to see Audra McDonald in 110 in the Shade. All I have to say is that I love the theatre. I loved it then and I love it now. What I really want though, is to be up there. I know what it's like to allow yourself to live in another world for two hours each night. And to understand the world through someone else's eyes. What a thrill it is to know you have the power to bring an entire audience along for the ride. The performances I saw then and now are the reason I keep pressing on. I want to be there. I will be there. It's only a matter of time.